The City of Philadelphia’s Division of Aviation received the 2022 "Airports Going Green" (AGG) Outstanding Sustainability Infrastructure Development Award for Philadelphia International Airport's (PHL) Remain Overnight (RON) apron project. The award was presented at 15th Annual AGG Forum, which was hosted by the American Association for Airport Executives (AAAE) and the Chicago Department of Aviation November 14-16. The AGG is the aviation industry’s leading forum on sustainability.
PHL's 58,000-square foot RON apron incorporates several sustainable project components, including the use of 90,000-cubic yards of Ultra Lightweight Foamed Glass Aggregate (ULFGA) as fill material. The airport's use of this post-consumer recycled material diverted 85 million glass bottles from landfills. The light-weight nature of ULFGA decreases compaction of the underlying soils at the site, cutting out time usually allocated for settlement and saving six months in the construction schedule.
The ULFGA requires fewer trucks for delivery and PHL sourced the material from a manufacturer only six miles away, leading to an 85 percent reduction in shipping-related greenhouse gas emissions. The project realized additional emission reductions due to a shorter construction period and fewer heavy equipment trips required to place and compact the foamed glass aggregate.
The RON apron is located on the northwest corner of PHL’s airfield, next to the FedEx facilities in Cargo City. It provides
aircraft parking space away from the terminal gates to improve the efficiency of terminal operations and allow for expansion of the Cargo program. The $40 million project will be completed next month and is another step towards achieving the DOA’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. To learn more about the RON apron project, click here.
